Politics: Education budget cuts are a disaster for families

This week in the Scottish Parliament, we held a debate on reforming the Scottish education system.

So much was covered in the debate, but I focussed my remarks on how we can best support our children and young people with additional support needs.

Currently there are 705,874 pupils in public and grant-maintained schools in Scotland.

Overall, the number of pupils in 2022 with an identified additional support need (ASN) was 241,639 pupils which represents 34.2 per cent of all pupils.

I was outraged therefore to see the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Aberdeenshire Council administration’s decision to cut out-of-school care, speech and language therapists and school-crossing patrollers.

These services are vital in creating learning environments which are not merely inclusive by design, but empowering in practice, allowing all of our children and young people to be safe on their way to and from school and to flourish academically and socially while there.

The disastrous decision of the education and children services committee – of which I used to be a member – to end out-of-school care will affect 15 primary schools and hundreds of families across Aberdeenshire.

It is the wrong decision and I call on Tory and Liberal Democrat councillors to urgently reconsider.

The energy sector is a major employer across Aberdeenshire and reductions in out-of-school and pre-school childcare will disproportionately affect women and the sector's diversity as a result.

In fact, a recent report from the Axis Network found that childcare cuts will have a serious impact on female employability in the energy sector. This could result in loss of staff if wraparound care is withdrawn.

In the Scottish Parliament, I called on the Aberdeenshire Council administration to confirm whether or not an integrated impact assessment was carried out.

So many families rely heavily on these services and the public deserve to know if the council even thought about these families before deciding to withdraw this much-needed support.

The childcare cuts were just the tip of the iceberg. I was genuinely shocked to learn of the decision, by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, to cut school-crossing patrollers and speech and language therapy provisions.

One of the main issues that constituents have raised with me – not just as a MSP but as a councillor before I was elected to the Scottish Parliament – was safe routes to school for their children. And I have raised this issue with the council on many occasions.

With this decision, the Tories and Liberal Democrats are putting the safety of our children at risk. It must stop now.

Finally, my long-standing advocacy for the deaf community is well known. And it breaks my heart to see the council cutting speech and language therapists which will have a detrimental impact, not just on children living with hearing loss, but others with an additional support need.

All eight of my children and grandchildren have made or are currently making their way through the Scottish education system, so I know first-hand just how deeply these cuts will hurt families.

As elected officials, it is one of our foremost duties to work to better support all of our children and young people not just to get by, but to participate fully and thrive in their educational journeys. And we must do all we can to support families too.

I call on the Tories and the Liberal Democrats in Aberdeenshire Council to abandon their plans.

I have had many constituents raise these cuts with me over the past week. Please get in touch if you are affected by these terrible decisions or any other issue. I will be writing to Aberdeenshire Council to express my dismay at these choices.

If you wish to get in contact, you can reach me via e-mail at karen.adam.msp@parliament.scot